Mark's Birthday Celebration

I got this idea a few months ago about surprising Mark for his birthday. Mark used to surf a lot when he was younger and we often came to Santa Cruz while we were dating. One time we came here and I spent so much time watching and trying to get a movie of him surfing that I blistered the right side of my face. We also spent a lot of time on the beach by the board walk. I use to admire the Dream Inn as a youth thinking it would be a fun place to stay.
A few years ago it had been a long time since we had a little break so I booked a room at the Coast Hotel and Mark, Kristin, Sarah and I really enjoyed our stay. I remember that Mark told me that it was a rejuvenating place for him to come. Then it was called the Coast Hotel but it has since changed back to the "Dream Inn" as we new it back in the day. You can see the board walk, the pier, the beautiful Monterey Bay from the hotel.
So I started formulating my plan. I booked a room the weekend of his birthday but I didn't tell him. Alex (our chiropractic assistant) and I crossed off two days in his schedule so no patients would be booked. The week finally arrived and I got a sub for my Seminary class for Friday. Wednesday I started packing. I just got back from visiting Kristin and Sarah in Utah so my suitcase was still in the bedroom. I secretly started to fill it again with our clothes for the trip. Wednesday night while Mark was at church meetings I loaded the suitcase in the car. Thursday morning before Seminary I loaded a few things. (Mark doesn't get up that early.) Then when I got back from Seminary I suggested that we drive to the office together since I said I wanted to come home the same time he did. I told him that I would even chauffeur him to work since it was his birthday. I was relieved when he didn't seem to notice the suitcases in the back of the car. As we drove to work I went right past the office. Mark said, "Hey! You missed the office driveway." I told him I wasn't thinking but I kept going. As I passed the possible other routes to the office I could tell he was getting frustrated. He said, "Wow! You are really taking the long way. I finally told him we weren't going to work until Monday. He said, "I have things to do." I said, "Like what?" He responded, "Like mow the lawn." I told him the lawn would still be there when we got home. He asked about helping a friend move that day and I told him I had ask one of his counselors to help get people to help. He asked about his patients and I told him they had all been scheduled for Monday. He finally relaxed and started to get use to the idea. We had a nice drive to Santa Cruz. When we arrived it was sunny but a little chilly. They had had a lot of rain in the past few days so we felt grateful that it had stopped and we could enjoy the sun. Friday it was overcast but we walked along the pier and the beach. We did a little sight seeing but best of all we rested a bit! Today it is absolutely beautiful. It is sunny already and no clouds threatening to block the sun. It is going to be a glorious day to take in some ultra violet light!

Findarle Reception August 19th Labor Day Weekend

It was a busy weekend with all of the Birthday festivities and Eric's visit. Along with those festivities my friend Terri Findarle came to Oakdale and we had fun putting together a wedding reception for her son Michael Findarle and new bride Audrey. It was fun hanging out with Terri for a long weekend. We got to shop for wedding decor and catch up on each others lives. We resurrected Mindi's centerpieces from her wedding and they ended up being perfect with Audrey's colors. I had a blast working with friends I've known for years. We got to work together and create a beautiful reception. What good friends we have! The rest of the month has been rather quiet. I've been working on a website for Mark's office and we had the missionaries for dinner. Of course I have Seminary everyday and lessons to prepare. We actually had no plans for the Labor Day weekend but we worked hard in the yard and felt good about the work we got done. It was very hot so the kids came to swim and we BBQed on Labor Day. I actually got to go swimming with the grandchildren and I really enjoyed that. Today we will be walking to let people know about Proposition 8. We also walked on Saturday the 23rd and it was an interesting but suprisingly enjoyable task talking with neighbors in our community.

August 18th Jen and Eric Celebrate With the Family

On August 18th every year Jenn and Eric share their birthday. The weekend before the 18th we were all excited because Uncle Eric was coming to town. That always means we are going to have fun and the music will roll. We love it when Eric brings out the guitar and we listen to him sing. We laugh and sing and have a great time. It was a short visit but we packed in as much fun and family time as we could!

Aug 16th Ward Temple Day

August 16th was our Ward Temple Day. We met at the church building to car pool up to the Oakland Temple. My friend Val Reynolds and I toured the Visitors Center and visited the most beautiful exhibit of sculptures of the Savior I had ever seen. They were done by a woman who had had no formal training in sculpting. There was a life size sculpture of Christ and the artist finished it in five months. The detail was unbelievable. Each piece told a story and I was so awe struck that I was overcome by emotion and the reality of my Savior, Friend and Redeemer. It was truly a sight to behold! We had a nice bag lunch with our ward family and got home in time to welcome Eric home for a birthday weekend.

Birthday Lunch with Grammy!

Tyce and Corbin had a birthay on the 29th of July. I take the grandchildren out to lunch for their birthdays and they get to choose the place. So far the hot spot is Del Taco because it has a play area that is fun for the kids. The tube slide was the hit of the day as you can see by the pictures. We can't always go right on their birthdays so I usually try to see when their moms can use a break and take them as close to their birthdays as I can. The boys had fun but the interesting memory for me was when we walked into Del Taco, Tyce immediately put a nickel in the gumball machine. That wouldn't have been a problem but the gumball machine only takes quarters and so when I explained to Tyce that he needed to ask before doing things like that he was not very happy with me. He pouted for a few minutes and wouldn't acknowledge me. It took a while but he finally warm up again. The boys had a great time playing in the play area. It was a fun time for Grammy to get to know the twins a little better.

AUGUST 11TH FIRST DAY OF SEMINARY

WOW! Where did the summer go. It seems like we just had our year end Seminary Breakfast and here we are starting another year of Seminary. This is my 4th year and I love teaching the youth so much. My class last year was what I call a "Zion" class. One of our scripture mastery scriptures was Moses 7:18 which say "And the Lord call his people Zion and they were of one heart and one mind and they dwelt in righteousness and there were no poor among them." It was a choice experience for me to meet with these amazing young people. They got along, they were never disrespectful. They did what they were asked to do. I also believe they learned to love one another and become better friends. I know I came to love them very much.

Because I had such a good class last year I was a little afraid that this year might be hard. I couldn't possibly have a class I love as much. The night before Seminary started I had a really hard time going to sleep. Remember how you felt on Christmas Eve and you were just so excited and nervous about Christmas morning that you couldn't sleep. Well that was me. I finally fell asleep about 12:30 a.m and then woke up again at 3:30 a.m. There was no need to try and go back to sleep because I could just feel that it wasn't going to happen.

Well I got to Seminary and we had our morning prayer as teachers. My stomach was doing flip flops. Then they started arriving. It was so exciting. What a great bunch of kids. They arrived on time and all but one student came. I'm so excited! It is going to be a great year!

AUGUST 2nd A BEAUTIFUL WEDDING

A great day for the Miguel Family.
It was so fun to see everyone. The wedding was so beautiful. Every detail was addressed. We had a delicious sit down dinner and it was so fun visiting with everyone.


We tried to find Uncle Jim but couldn't find him to get in the picture with his other siblings. We finally found him with Tony and snapped this picture. They all look wonderful and never seem to get any older. My camera battery died as I tried to get a picture of my cousin Ann and JB Holloway and Jeff and Diana Bentz. It was so fun to visit with them and catch up on what they are doing.
It was a beautiful day at Jenn and Chris' wedding. It was held at the St Paul's Catholic Church on Church and California Street.

Silly me, I left my camera in my car during the wedding. It took us 2 hours and 45 mins to find the church. We got lost because Army Street in San Francisco has been changed to Caesar Chavez. How were we to know? I guess we had an old map and we had left our map quest print outs at home. Mark informed me Saturday morning that we needed to leave at 10:30 a.m. to get there in time. I was feeling a little annoyed because that was a hour before I thought we had to leave. It meant I was going to have to move faster than I wanted to. We got on the road and got lost because of the name change. Instead of getting stressed I told Mark we should just consider the trip and adventure and if we didn't make the wedding we could at least make the reception. We finally reached the church and then had to park three blocks up hill on the steepest driving hill I've ever been on. It was so steep that we had to park our car horizontally and when Mark went to get out of the car he said he felt like he was going to roll down the hill. We made it to the church but then were surprised to see our relatives standing waiting to go in to the cathedral. I thought it was rather strange that a wedding would start 45 minutes late. After a while I realized that the wedding started at 2:00 p.m not 1:00 p.m. and I we were 15 minutes early not 45 minutes late

Oh! Happy Day. We got to see the wedding.